


Health to the Company

by kappa77



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campfires, Fluff, Folk Music, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 20:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17066522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kappa77/pseuds/kappa77
Summary: The group's quiet wizard seems to have knowledge in more than just magic. Fjord intends to find out, even if doing so puts him in an awkward position.





	Health to the Company

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a cop-out but be warned that I haven't had the time to watch critical role since episode 11, but I somehow had enough motivation to suddenly write this? Idek, but just be warned if my characterization is off or old.
> 
> This was inspired by [teammompike's gen fic "And We'll All Hang On Behind"](http://teammompike.tumblr.com/post/171040831700/and-well-all-hang-on-behind) which I definitely recommend.

Even with Fjord teaching the Mighty Nein sea shanties to pass the time traveling, the trip does not, in fact, turn shorter. They are about where they expected to be as the sun starts to set and they veer slightly off the road to set up camp for the night. They tie up the horses, strike up a camp fire, and lay out bedrolls all with a song in their heart, occasionally humming as they do so.

“Man, we are a sickeningly happy bunch tonight, huh?” Beau comments, which gets her a playful shove on the shoulder from Fjord.

The rest of the evening passes uneventfully. Rations are passed out and ate and lots are drawn for night watch; Caleb, Nott, then Jester.

And with a short conversation about how long they expect to be traveling tomorrow, the group turns down for bed.

Fjord is barely fast asleep when he hears soft whistling. Fearing the worst, he cracks open one eye, laying perfectly still, to see if he can see the would-be party crasher.

But there are just trees, the slowly dimming campfire, and Caleb stringing up his alarm spell, whistling and occasionally breaking up the whistling with muttered singing. From this distance he can’t make out the exact lyrics, but they don’t sound like they’re in Common.

Caleb turns to start a new side and stops in his tracks, eyes on Fjord, song dying on his lips.

“Sorry for waking you up,” Caleb says, quietly, shoulders raising a touch.

Fjord sits up, leaning on an elbow and rubs his eyes, “No, no, it’s fine. Don’t let me interrupt your work. I wasn’t that sleepy yet really.”

Caleb nods and goes to stringing the other sides of camp as Fjord rubs his eyes. They’re screaming for him to shut them, for sleep, but Fjord’s interest is piqued.

He gets out of his bedroll, stretching as he finds a seat by the fire. It’s half the size it was when they first made it, but there’s no point in stoking it at this point.

“You seemed to really like the song we sang earlier,” Fjord says. His eyes are on his fingers, but he glances up at Caleb for a reaction.

“Hmm?” Caleb raises his head, but doesn’t look toward him. “It was nice.”

“I’d almost say you knew a few shanties yourself,” he says,

For Caleb’s credit, he doesn’t stop his work on the spell, finishing up the final side of camp. “Shanties? No, I do not hang around boats often.”

“Noted, but that song you were whistling, it sounded more like a shanty than a song you’d hear at a theater in town.”

Caleb pauses to recite the spell for the alarm, hands outstretched, eyes momentarily alight as he speaks words Fjord doesn’t understand. The wire gleams brightly for a moment before vanishing. Fjord can feel his face grow warmer for a moment, but he blames the dying fire.

He turns back to Fjord, “And?”

“Could you sing a bit?” As the words leave Fjord’s mouth, he regrets them. Was that too forward? Would his question close Caleb off more? What was he hoping to get out of this conversation?

But before he can take anything back, Caleb sits across the fire as he slowly starts singing, the tune familiar to what he whistled before, now he sang in Common. The song is slow, which doesn’t lend well to Caleb’s version of the song. His eyes are screwed shut as he stutters and trips over his words.

It didn’t take long for Fjord to figure out what he’s doing.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, interrupting, “but um, you can sing it properly, if you want.”

Caleb opens his eyes, “What do you mean?”

“Well, it… it sounds like you’re translating on the spot and I- I doubt you were singing in the original language.”

Caleb pauses for a moment, staring into the fire a moment. “You… are correct.”

“So… I’m saying you can sing it the way it was intended.”

“But you don’t speak Zemnian.”

Fjord lets out a soft chuckle. “I’ll live not knowing the meaning to the song.”

Caleb looks at him a moment before singing again in Zemnian. The rest of their surroundings melt away as he sings. It flows better and Caleb’s shoulders drop as he sings. His voice is rough after a long day and can’t exactly make the higher notes, but Fjord can still hear the emotion in Caleb’s voice as he sings what Fjord can only assume is a sorrowful song form the tone. The fire flickers and illuminates Caleb’s face, bathing him in a soft glow.

Caleb reaches the final line and Fjord blinks, suddenly very aware of how that song made his heart feel lighter and his whole body feel calmer as he comes back to Exandria.

He runs a hand through his hair. “Well, damn, that was way better than my ol’ songs.”

Caleb looks away. “You cannot compare the two.”

“Maybe, but I’ve only heard one of your songs and I’m pretty won over.”

“And I have only heard one sea shanty, but I like your songs as well.”

With the light feeling gone, the weariness bears down on his bones, but Fjord still finds himself saying, “Do you want to hear another one?”

Caleb looks up at that. “You would not exactly have the chorus you had in the cart.”

“That’s fine, some shanties work fine sung alone.”

“Then go ahead.”

Fjord smiles as he sings of drinking to the health of the ship’s crew, wishing they’d eventually see each other again even if the odds are against them. Usually he hears the song sung loud and fast in taverns on the coast, but tonight he sings it slower. He doesn’t dare look at Caleb, instead looking at the sleeping forms of the people he’s started to accept as friends.

The song finishes and finally, he risks a glance at Caleb. His face is slightly flushed, probably from the fire as he softly claps.

Fjord smiles, feeling an encroaching heat on his cheeks. “You’re too kind.”

“No, it is well deserved.”

A silence that isn’t exactly awkward but isn’t exactly welcomed passes over the two, with just the dimming fire between them.

Caleb suddenly stands up and says, “You should sleep. Long day tomorrow.”

Fjord’s body is crying out for sleep and so he finally relents, standing up and stretching once more. “Mmm, you’re right. Night Caleb.”

“Night.” Caleb turns to properly start his night watch, but before he does so, Fjord catches a lingering blush on Caleb’s cheeks.

He’s not sure how to process this as he lays down in his bedroll and closes his eyes.

There are a few minutes of silence, just the sounds of the forest and the soft crunching of Caleb moving around camp. After a moment, however, he starts singing in Zemnian again, a different song and Fjord feels his heart feel lighter again.

It takes Fjord a while to fall asleep that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah yes, a dying fire can make two people's cheeks go red from the sheer heat of it. Sure, Jan >.>
> 
>  
> 
> [Caleb's Song](https://youtu.be/YN-yKC0xDm4)  
> [Fjord's Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXNCvOtp0Dg)
> 
>  
> 
> Talk Critical Role to me despite my limited knowledge: kappa776.tumblr.com


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